The Search
by luthrengreenleaf
Summary: Aralyn, a mysterious girl, is searching for something or someone. She has a lot of questions she wants answered, and the answers she gets will surprise not only her but the person shes questioned. Whatch this girl learn and envolve in ways she never thoug
1. Chapter 1

(Author's note: Okay this is my first ff thing that has to do w/Angel. My friend got me totally sucked into it. I just love it. I hope you like my writing. Leave reviews!)

Chapter 1

Aralyn Thomson walked the night streets of Salt Lake City, in Utah. No one gave her a second glance as she walked by the clubs and bars, but it didn't bother her. She wanted to attract as little attention as possible, which was usually hard for her to do. She had red-blond hair, and blue eyes that looked almost purple. She was tall and looked about the age of 17. She'd been lucky in this town, unlike many others she'd been to in the past few years. No one had tried to mug or hurt her, or even worse attract attention to her. The last thing she needed was for people to start asking questions about who she was, where she came from, and seek her out to question her.

Aralyn took out the keys to the apartment she rented about a month ago, as she got within a block or two from the apartment complex. She looked at her watch; it was 3:00am. She walked a little faster even though she knew she'd be fine if she walked, but it made her feel better. She relaxed as she got to her apartment, and opened the door. When she got inside, though, she saw the few belongings she owned had been strewn all over the small apartment.

Aralyn just shook her head, she was to used to people who thoughth she was hiding something, like murder or something else, going through her apartments. She began picking up the items at her feet; a tissue box, one of her books that had been ripped up, some pieces of glass from a frame, and a photo. She threw the book in the trash along with the glass. She put the half smashed tissue box on the counter, and then inspected the photo for any damage.

The photo was extremely old, and frayed around the edges. In the picture was a woman holding a young girl. Looking at the picture you could tell the woman had once been a young, carefree, and beautiful woman. In the picture she still retained her beauty, but her eyes had a look of fear in them. She had her arms wrapped protectively around her daughter, as if she could loose her any moment. The little girl was slim, and pale. She looked to be around three years old. Her hair was pulled back into two small pigtails. She looked alert, and very aware of her surroundings. One of her hands clutched onto her mother's arms in love and safety, while the other was playing with the necklace around the neck of her mother. Aralyn loved this picture, and had kept it for years. She smiled as she looked at the picture, and unconsciously played with the necklace around her neck. Seeing the picture was fine, she set it down, and started to gather up her things.

It took Aralyn all day to clean up the apartment and pack her things. She didn't want any questions about the break in, and didn't want to take the chance of the person who broke in coming back and finding _her_ next time; which she was sure was the reason of the break in. Besides she'd come here looking for someone, but that person wasn't here. So she would have been leaving soon anyways. The only thing she had to do was call the club where she worked and tell them she couldn't work anymore. They wouldn't ask questions, they'd just find someone else.

In the mean time Aralyn took out a map and put an "x" over Salt Lake City. The "x" matched the ones on many of the other capitals, and major cities in other states. Now she had to choose another city to go to. She started to scan the map for any city that would catch her attention. She looked at some of the cities in Arizona, but it was Las Vegas that caught her eye. That city, along with a few other cities in Nevada and California, were ones she'd been avoiding. Mostly because there were a lot of people there who might notice her. But she knew she'd been avoiding the city for too long. She sighed then put the map away. She figured she could check out St. George on the way to Las Vegas; kill two birds with one stone. Next she looked up bus times. The latest one was at 5: 30. She looked outside at the fading orange sky, and then at the clock on the bed stand, which read 4:45. _Good_ she thought, _At least I won't have to stop a bus in the middle of the night this time. _At 5:07 Aralyn turned in the keys to the apartment, and walked to the bus stop.

As she waited more people gathered at the bus stop. Some of them were carrying small suitcases like hers, others were holding briefcases, and others were just holding money for a ride home. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"So, you're leaving? I kinda hoped you'd be staying longer than this." Said a young man behind her.

Aralyn smiled to herself. As much as she tried to stay invisible there was always one person who noticed her. She turned around to face the guy.

"Austin, I _told_ you I don't stay anywhere long. Although, this is one of my shorter stays." Aralyn said softly. "And why do you care? From what I've heard you move from girl to girl pretty fast."

Austin laughed. "Usually I do. The same thing over and over again gets boring, you know?"

"Kind of the same with life, huh?" Aralyn answered him

"Actually I've been enjoying my life so far."

"You haven't been alive long. After a while it's bound to get boring."

"And you have? How could you know about that kind of stuff, you're not a day over 22."

"Mmmm." Aralyn said with a slight smile.

They stood there for a few minuets in silence. As they stood there some people muttered about how annoying late buses were and left, and more joined the large group that was crowed around the bus stop.

"So is this what New York is like?" asked Austin as a man shoved past him to get a spot closer to where the bus would stop.

"Yeah, except there's no end to the crowd. Sometimes you feel like your suffocating, and drowning in the crowds."

"Huh, I'd leave the big apple if I felt like that up there. So, where are we going?"

"We?" and for the first time Aralyn noticed that Austin was carrying a small suitcase like hers. "We?" she asked again.

"Yeah, we."

"Austin, _we_ aren't going anywhere. _I_ am going to Las Vegas. You're staying here. Don't leave your job, and life because you want to come with me. There's nothing between us, and I don't really date your type."

"Now that's where you're wrong." Austin said. "I'm not leaving for you, and I'm not leaving my job. I was fired. The boss thought the reason you quit was because of me. He thought I freaked you out somehow. I don't mind though. When I could get you talk you talked about how much you've traveled, and it sounded cool. So if you don't mind, I thought it would be fun to travel with you. "

"It's not you Austin, but I travel by myself."

"Another reason I should go. You're too much of an introvert. You need someone to introduce you to people, and you need a friend. I mean, you don't want to do everything alone, right?"

Aralyn laughed, and looked at Austin. True she didn't want to always be alone, but she was scared of what might happen if they got too close. He'd most likely get hurt, or worse hurt her if he knew all her secrets. But as she looked at him she felt the pull of possibly not having to be alone and the longing for a friend, and the pull was too strong. She felt herself nod, as the bus pulled up. She didn't know if it was the right bus or not. She knew it wasn't the original one she had planned on getting on. But she hoped it would take her to where she wanted to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Are sure this is the best we'd be able to afford? Not to sound conceited or anything, but isn't this a little small?" Austin wandered around the tiny apartment inspecting it.

Aralyn shrugged. She knew it was small, but at least it had two bedrooms, unlike all the others they had visited. "You know, we might be able to find a better place if we went during the day." Austin said almost hopefully looking at Aralyn.

"In Las Vegas? This city sleeps during the day, but if you want to you can."

"What's your problem with the day? The whole why down here we took the night buses."

"I'm just not a day person, that's all." Said Aralyn as she stared outside.

But Austin wasn't listening anymore. Instead he was putting his jacket back on, and heading for the door.

"Where are you going? We just got here. Don't you want to unpack, or something first?"

"Nah. We have all the time in the world, remember? I'm gonna hit the streets of Vegas."

"Okay, just don't come back here married or anything. I'm going to look for a job."

"A job! Already?"

"Yeah, the apartment isn't going to pay for itself." Said Aralyn

"You sound like my mother, you know that?" Austin said

"No, but thanks for that." Said Aralyn, who really just wanted to go to bed, "I'll try to be a little less mature next time I talk, okay?"

Aralyn hit the streets of Vegas with little enthuaism. This place just didn't suit her. People where everywhere, and every light in the world seemed to be on here. Of all the cities she had been to she'd never felt this out of place. Everyone here seemed like they had no care in the world, or were trying to escape their worries. No one seemed to really care about anything, including themselves. People swaggered all around her drunk. One man came up to here, and asked her to marry him. He was unshaven, and smelled strongly of achohol, and smoke. Aralyn just pushed him away, and kept walking.

"What, do you think you're too good for me? Well, your not! No one is!" the man called after her, and Aralyn rolled her eyes. She hoped she wouldn't have to stay here long. After a while she found a small club with a "Help Needed" sign in the window. Aralyn looked at the club shook her head, and walked in. All she thought was _this is going to be a very long night._

Aralyn walked into the apartment. In her hand she had a fist-full of addresses and phone numbers. She knew that she got most of these possible jobs from her looks rather then skill, but they were still jobs.

Austin wasn't back yet, but Aralyn didn't let that bother her. She wasn't in charge of him, besides it was his choice to come. She hadn't asked him to.

She wanted to finish un-packing, but didn't have the energy. Without really realizing it she went into her new bedroom, and fell asleep.

It was one of the first lessons she learned, never wander away. She never really knew why it was so important until the day it almost got her killed.

_She was three years old. Her mother had taken her to the market before everyone closed up their shop. She had seen some jewelry that a lady was selling on a cart. She liked it because of the shimmers it made. While her mother was looking at clothes, she slipped away. But before she could even get close to the cart a crowd of men walked directly in her path. She tried to move out of the way, but was grabbed from behind by one of the men._

_She started screaming, and a hand was put over her mouth. She tried to twist away, but the man's grip was too strong. The man took her to an ally, darkened by the night, and threw her into the wall. Tears were running down her face, and her nose was running. She cried out for her mother, and the man smacked her to silence her. Then he turned from her and took something from his bag. The girl hugged her knees in the corner of the ally, crying silently. _

_Then someone walked into the ally. The man didn't even get a chance to turn around before a hand was around his throat._

"_I've been watching you Smith. I warned you, remember? Did you think I was going to let you murder a little girl?"_

_The man sputtered, gasping for air._

"_Well?" said the man. The little girl didn't make a sound in the corner of the ally, but she did try to adjust herself so she could see the man._

"_You wouldn't understand." The man called Smith spit out with effort._

"_Oh really? Try me."_

"_That's the work of the devil, that one is. She has to go. The filthy thing." Smith said_

"_She's a child, not the work of the devil. That's people like you and me." The man's voice was full of discussed, and he threw the man into the wall where he went limp and fell to the ground._

_The girl sat there. She was too scared to move. Then she felt two large hands awkwardly pick her up. _

"_Where is your mother?" the man said. He tried to sound kind and happy, but he wasn't very good at it. Silently she pointed towards the market place, and said in her small voice "Clothes."_

_She looked up at the man, and watched him. Then she said, "You're cold." The man smiled in spite of himself. "I'm used to it." He told her. The little girl smiled back. "Daddy was cold to." She said, almost in a sad voice. The man was too stunned to move for a moment, and then recovered. He was sure what he had just thought was impossible. No, he was sure it was. The little girl stared up at him, her little pigtails had some dirt on them, and so did her face. Her look was very sincere. The man smiled at her again, and continued walking. The little girls mother was overjoyed to see that someone had found her daughter. And thanked him. As he handed the girl to her mother the girl said matter-of-factly "Mummy, he's cold, cold like daddy was." The mother looked at her daughter, fear filling her eyes for a moment. Then she said, "It's wrong to tell stories. It's very bad, Ana! Tell this man sorry." Then the woman apologized, saying "I don't know where she's comes up with these things. I hope she didn't insult you." But the man just smiled slightly, and shook his head. _

_Later that night, while the girl was getting a bath, she told her mother she liked the man's eyes. The mother smiled and told her daughter she did too. But there was something else about him too, that the mother didn't say anything about, but she was sure what she was thinking was impossible. She just wandered. She half hoped she would run into him again, but at the same time she was scared of him._

Aralyn woke up suddenly. She looked around, to see what had woken her. Then she sighed when she saw it was just Austin coming in. She could tell he was drunk. He staggered towards his bag of belongings, and took something out. Then he charged into her room.

"Austin, what are you- Aralyn stated but stopped when she saw what was in his hand. A stake.


End file.
